Amy Reed's Clean
There are so few young adult novels about addiction that are interesting to teenagers but still somewhat sanitized. Amy Reed's Clean keeps the reader wanting more by giving a bird's eye view into a drug rehabilitation facility for youth. It is told in first person by four different characters about themselves, their memories, and what they see in the people around them. The characterization is a little "Breakfast Club-esque" with the princess, the geek, the crazy girl, and the criminal (plus one). These characters, Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva have one thing in common, and it is not Saturday detention. They are addicts. But, like the characters in "The Breakfast Club," they form a bond like none other.
Inside of the walls of a rehab, these characters are forced to gather together and talk about their problems. Who wants to do that? These "kids" do not even know each other. However, their counselor, Sharon, finds ways to make them talk and soon they realize that they need each other. They need someone other than themselves to rely on to help them through their nightmares. All characters feel the changes in themselves, but then comes Family Day and things get really heated. Will they all graduate and stay clean?
This is a one-of-a-kind book that connects you with the characters intimately. Each "tells" their story...but, what more is underneath their own words and thoughts? What are they NOT saying?
Read-a-Likes:
Go Ask Alice is a little antiquated, but the struggle in the narrator's head is timeless. Suburban Junky, however, is a bit on the raw side. It is less graphic than some, but is truly a Young Adult novel. Clean is truly the only young teen novel appropriate for ages 13-17.
Of all the heroin memoirs, this one by far is the most relatable to the average youth in middle class America. Instead of the writer/main character being ultra rich, privileged, and white; he is just privileged and white. Hassan is the son of a drug counselor in an affluent part of St. Louis. He firmly acknowledges that his background is one of significant familial support. His fall into addiction is one that every addict reveals: he did not feel “good enough” and like he “didn’t belong.” Addiction is a disease of the soul. Suburban Junky tells the story so familiar: Hassan began “smoking weed with friends” but soon he began to sell it, too, to feed his need. This led him to meeting other users who used harder drugs. He began to use heroin, sell heroin, and waste away. Watching his own friends and girlfriend become zombies and die was not enough to make him stop. Only the support of his family did.
Read Suburban Junky to get inside the mind of an addict and see how a person can turn from “a normal kid,” to a shell of self. Written as a journal while in “rehab,” the content was published many years later after Hassan became a healthy adult. Although the book is more 17+ in maturity, it can and should be read by younger teens that are facing addiction. It is gritty, raw, and scary.
Tags: Drug Abuse Young Adult Issues Society Friendship Anorexia Abuse Neglect
It is difficult enough to find materials in the early teen category of addiction literature. However, there are at least a few books that are available for preschool to second grade and second grade to preteen. Please turn the page for more information.
